This invention relates to magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices for memory, recording head and external magnetic field-sensing applications. More particularly the invention relates to a MTJ device that uses an improved insulating tunnel barrier that improves the properties of the MTJ.
A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is comprised of two layers of ferromagnetic material separated by a thin insulating tunnel barrier layer. The insulating layer is sufficiently thin that quantum-mechanical tunneling of the charge carriers occurs between the ferromagnetic electrodes. The tunneling process is electron spin dependent, which means that the tunneling current across the junction depends on the spin-dependent electronic properties of the ferromagnetic materials and the barrier layer and is a function of the relative orientation of the magnetic moments (magnetization directions) of the two ferromagnetic layers. The two ferromagnetic layers are designed to have different responses to magnetic fields so that the relative orientation of their moments can be varied with an external magnetic field. The MTJ is usable as a memory cell in a nonvolatile magnetic random access memory (MRAM) array, as described in IBM""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,343, and as a magnetic field sensor, such as a magnetoresistive read head in a magnetic recording disk drive, as described in IBM""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,410.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-section of a conventional MTJ device. The MTJ 10 includes a bottom xe2x80x9cfixedxe2x80x9d ferromagnetic (FM) layer 18 as the bottom magnetic electrode, an insulating tunnel barrier layer 20, and a top xe2x80x9cfreexe2x80x9d FM layer 32 as the top magnetic electrode. The MTJ 10 has bottom and top electrical leads, 12, 14, respectively, with the bottom lead 12 being formed on a suitable substrate. The FM layer 18 is called the xe2x80x9cfixedxe2x80x9d layer because its magnetic moment (magnetization direction) is prevented from rotation in the presence of applied magnetic fields in the desired range of interest for the MTJ device, i.e., the magnetic field caused by the write current applied to the memory cell from the read/write circuitry of the MRAM or the magnetic field from the recorded magnetic layer in a magnetic recording disk. The magnetic moment of FM layer 18 can be fixed by being formed of a high-coercivity material or by being exchange coupled to an antiferromagnetic layer. The fixed FM layer may also be the laminated or antiparallel (AP) pinned type of structure, as described in IBM""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,185. The magnetic moment of the free FM layer 32 is not fixed, and is thus free to rotate in the presence of an applied magnetic field in the range of interest. In the absence of an applied magnetic field the moments of the FM layers 18 and 32 are aligned generally parallel (or antiparallel) in a MTJ memory cell and generally perpendicular in a MTJ magnetoresistive read head. The relative orientation of the magnetic moments of the FM layers 18, 32 affects the tunneling current and thus the electrical resistance of the MTJ device.
An important parameter for MTJ device applications is high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The magnitude of the signal is dependent upon the magnetoresistance or MR (xcex94R/R) exhibited by the device. The magnetoresistance (MR) of a MTJ device is also referred to as the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR). The signal is given by iB xcex94R, which is the bias current (iB) passing through the MTJ device (assuming a constant current is used to detect the signal) times the resistance change (xcex94R) of the device. However, the noise exhibited by the MTJ device is determined, in large part, by the resistance R of the device. Thus to obtain the maximum SNR for constant power used to sense the device the resistance (R) of the device must be small and the change in resistance (xcex94R) of the device large.
The resistance of a MTJ device is largely determined by the resistance of the insulating tunnel barrier layer for a device of given dimensions since the resistance of the electrical leads and the ferromagnetic layers contribute little to the resistance. Moreover, because the sense current passes perpendicularly through the ferromagnetic layers and the tunnel barrier layer, the resistance R of a MTJ device increases inversely with the area A of the device. The requirement for low resistance MTJ devices, coupled with the inverse relationship of resistance with area, is especially troublesome because an additional requirement for MTJ device applications is small area. For an MRAM the density of MTJ memory cells in the array depends on small area MTJs, and for a read head high storage density requires small data trackwidth on the disk, which requires a small area MTJ read head. Since the resistance R of a MTJ device scales inversely with the area A, it is convenient to characterize the resistance of the MTJ device by the product of the resistance R times the area A (RA). Thus RA is independent of the area A of the MTJ device.
In the prior art, the material used for the tunnel barrier layer is aluminum oxide (Al2O3) because such barrier layers can be made very thin and essentially free of pin holes or other defects. For Al2O3 barrier layers it has been found that RA increases exponentially with the thickness of the layer. The thickness of Al2O3 barrier layers can be varied over a sufficient range to vary RA by more than eight orders of magnitude, i.e., from more than 2xc3x97109 xcexa9(xcexcm)2 to as little as 5 xcexa9(xcexcm)2. However, for these lower RA values, the TMR is typically reduced, in part because of microscopic pin holes or other defects in the ultra thin tunnel barrier layers needed to obtain these very low RA values. For MRAM applications RA values in the range 500-1000 xcexa9(xcexcm)2 are acceptable, although it would be useful to be able to prepare MTJ memory cells with even lower RA values so that, for example, current could be passed perpendicularly through the MTJ cell to aid in the writing of the cell. Moreover, for scaling to ever higher memory capacities, MRAM cells will need to be shrunk in size, requiring lower RA values so that the resistance of the cell is not too high. More importantly, for MTJ read heads to be competitive in SNR with conventional giant magnetoresistance (GMR) spin-valve read heads, the MTJ heads need to have resistance values comparable to those of GMR heads. Since read heads of sub-micron size are required for high density recording applications, MTJ heads with RA values lower than 5 xcexa9(xcexcm)2 are desirable, which is an RA value less than what can be obtained with Al2O3 tunnel barriers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,314 suggests that MTJ devices can be made with tunnel barriers formed of AlN, Si3N4, MgO, Ta2O5, TiO2, and Y2O3.
R. Jansen et al. (J Appl. Phys., 83, 11 (June 1998)) describe the effect of adding impurities such as Co, Pd, Cu or Ni into the middle of the insulating aluminum oxide barrier to affect the TMR. A single layer of aluminum oxynitride has been proposed as a tunnel barrier layer for reducing the resistance of the MTJ device in U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,859, and by M. Sharma et al. (Appl. Phys. Lett. 77, 14 (Oct. 2, 2000)).
The literature also describes other types of bilayers or multiple barriers being used in tunneling structures, but all of these are high resistance devices. De Teresa et al. (Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 211, 160-166 (2000)) describes the dependence of the TMR effect on the magnetic layer/barrier interface, such as Co/Al2O3 vs. Co/SrTiO3. Bilayer barriers, such as SrTiO3/Al2O3, were used to illustrate the effect of different interfaces on the two magnetic electrodes. P. K. Wong et al. (J. Appl. Phys. 83, 11 (Jun. 1, 1998)) prepared, as shown in Table 1, an MTJ device with a tunnel barrier of a bottom Al2O3/top MgO bilayer formed by sputter depositing Al/Mg in an oxygen atmosphere, but that device resulted in a high RA product of 1.2xc3x97108 xcexa9(xcexcm)2. Again, in contrast to the present invention, these studies concern tunnel barriers with much higher resistance (about 2xc3x97104 xcexa9(xcexcm)2 and higher) and do not address the applicability of bilayer barriers to low-resistance (low RA) magnetic tunnel junction devices.
IBM""s U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,289 describes low-RA MTJ devices with tunnel barrier layers formed of oxides and nitrides of indium (In) and gallium (Ga), and bilayer tunnel barriers comprised of a thin layer of aluminum oxide or nitride and an indium or gallium oxide or nitride layer.
IBM""s U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,049 describes low-RA MTJ devices with bilayer tunnel barrier layers comprised of either MgO/Al2O3 or AlN/Al2O3.
The previously cited ""859 patent describes low resistance MTJ devices with aluminum oxynitride (AlOxNy) tunnel barriers formed by exposing Al to a plasma mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. The tunnel barriers can include trace amounts of Cu, Si, Ta or Ti.
Thus, it is desirable to develop MTJ devices with improved tunnel barrier materials so that lower RA values can be achieved without sacrificing high TMR.
The invention is a low resistance magnetic tunnel junction device with a titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) layer as the single-layer tunnel barrier or as one of the layers in a bilayer tunnel barrier, the other barrier layer in the bilayer being an oxide or nitride of Al, Si, Mg, Ta, and Y, such as Al2O3, AlN, Si3N4, MgO, Ta2O5, TiO2, or Y2O3. The Ti barrier material can be alloyed with other known metals, such as Al and Mg, to produce barriers with TiAlOxNy and TiMgOxNy compositions. These alloyed types of barriers are formed by depositing a film of the TiAl or TiMg alloy, followed by natural exposure to the O2/N2 gas mixture.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken together with the accompanying figures.